Unseal '78 Report On Assassinations

December 10, 1999

A jury of six blacks and six whites gave the family of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. something they believe they haven't received from law-enforcement authorities: A declaration that the famed civil rights leader was a victim of a murder conspiracy instead of a lone gunman.

The family hopes the verdict from a Memphis courtroom in a wrongful death suit will persuade federal officials to open a new investigation into King's assassination. That may not happen. Any chance of a full-blown probe depends upon the results of a limited U.S. Justice Department inquiry, or an act of Congress.

Federal lawmakers have the power to resolve many of the nagging questions surrounding King's death, if they vote to unseal the full report of the 1978 House Select Committee on Assassinations. They have a moral obligation to the people of the United States and to the memory of Dr. King to do this, preferably before April 4, the 32nd anniversary of King's tragic death.

The King family, like millions of other Americans, never accepted the proposition that the civil rights leader died at the hands of a lone assassin. Over the years, myriad conspiracy theories have surfaced suggesting King could have been killed by either a handful of racists, organized crime or a cabal of high-level federal government officials.

King's presumptive killer, James Earl Ray, didn't help matters. He initially confessed to the murder and received a 99-year prison sentence. He later recanted his confession and spent the rest of his life professing his innocence.

Ray's guilty plea was upheld eight times by state and federal courts. In 1978, the House panel concluded that Ray was the killer but that he may have had help before or after the assassination by a group of bigots based in the St. Louis area. The panel found no government involvement.

The King family believed Ray was part of a larger conspiracy. They eventually sued Loyd Jowers, a retired businessman who claimed he paid someone else to kill King. On Wednesday, the jury awarded the King family $100 in damages and the verdict they had been seeking. The family had only sought a token amount in damages.

Congress should make any outstanding documents public to resolve the nagging questions surrounding the death of one of America's greatest social reformers. Until that happens, the jury will remain out on what remains an unsolved mystery.